Alan Stewart’s UK and Ireland family history news

Devon records set to go online

Plymouth and West Devon Record Office is to publish its record collection, when 343,257 images of records containing details of 3.5 million individuals will be published online for the first time.

The following information comes from findmypast.co.uk:

Leading family history website www.findmypast.co.uk has been awarded the contract by the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office to digitise and publish online its family history records for the very first time, in an exclusive partnership. Findmypast.co.uk will work with FamilySearch International, the world’s largest repository of genealogical records, to make the collection fully searchable online, making it easier than ever before to trace Devonshire ancestors.

Over 1,500 volumes of records covering an area that includes historic Plymouth, the Dartmoor expanses of Lydford, and the Royal Navy dockyard at Devonport, will be digitised over the coming year. Details of the lives of over 3.5 million Devonians can be found within the 343,257 images. Among the records being published online are:

Baptisms, marriages and burials, dating as far back as 1538

Monumental inscriptions

Records of funerals

Churchyard plans

Churchwardens’ accounts

Electoral rolls

Bastardy bonds

Settlement orders

Rate books

Apprenticeship indentures

These records will be joining what is already one of the largest online collections of over 26 million parish records dating back 650 years at findmypast.co.uk.

Today’s announcement follows on just a few weeks after findmypast.co.uk published online over 223,000 transcripts of parish baptisms, marriages and burials from Devon Family History Society. Those transcripts will soon be matched up with the images of the original parish registers, to be supplied by the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, enabling family and local historians to view facsimiles of the original historic documents online for the first time.

FamilySearch will scan original images of the registers for findmypast.co.uk to then transcribe and make available and fully searchable online at findmypast.co.uk with an index search on FamilySearch.org.

Nicola Moyle, City Curator of Plymouth and West Devon Record Office commented: “We are committed to making our archives much more accessible and easy to use. We’re really excited to be working with findmypast.co.uk and FamilySearch to digitise these records so that they will be easily available to everyone at the simple click of a button.”

Debra Chatfield, Marketing Manager at findmypast.co.uk said: “We are extremely excited that the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office has chosen to make its family history collection available through findmypast.co.uk. Once these records are online, it will be possible for anyone to find out if they had Devon ancestors just by entering a surname in a search engine. They will then be able to see an image of the original parish register, which in some cases could be up to 650 years old.” [Back to 1360! Surely not?]

The online records will be free to access at the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office but will be chargeable if viewed from home or elsewhere, either by buying PayAsYouGo credits or included within a subscription to findmypast.co.uk.